Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Spearwort, the Lesser

SPEARWORT, the lesser, or Ranunculus Flammula, L. is also a native perennial, growing on bogs, swampy meadows, and the sides of rivulets; flowering from June to September.—It is eaten by horses, in which it occasions many concealed disorders, but is refused by cows, goats, sheep, and hogs.—This plant is very acrid; if externally applied, it inflames and blisters the skin:—its distilled water is a most powerful emetic, operating as soon as it is swallowed; and Dr. Withering states, from his own experience, that, in cases of poison having been accidentally swallowed, or in which it becomes necessary to produce an immediate vomiting, such distilled water is preferable to any other preparation; as it does not excite the painful contractions, which are sometimes consequent on the use of white vitriol, and thus defeat the object for which the latter is administered.